Inspector Alleyn 3-Book Collection 9: Clutch of Constables, When in Rome, Tied Up in Tinsel

He became cautiously playful. ‘I see you know all about routine, Mrs Alleyn. Well, yes, if you’ve no objection, just a wee statement. Seeing you, as you might say –’

‘Discovered the body?’

‘That is so, Mrs Alleyn.’

Troy said rapidly: ‘I was on deck on the port side at the after-end, I think you call it. I leant on the rail and looked at the water which was covered with detergent foam. We were, I suppose, about two chains below Ramsdyke weir and turning towards the lock. I saw it – I saw her face – through the foam. At first I only thought – I thought –’

‘I’m sure it was very unpleasant.’

She felt that to concede this understatement would be to give ground before Mr Tillottson.

‘I thought it was something else: a trick of light and colour. And then the foam broke and I saw. That’s all really. I don’t think I called out. I’m not sure. Very stupidly, I fainted. Mr Tillottson,’ Troy hurried on, ‘we know she left the Zodiac some time during the night before last at Crossdyke. She slept on deck, that night.’

‘Yes?’ he asked quickly. ‘On deck? Sure?’

‘Didn’t you know?’

‘I haven’t had the opportunity as yet, to get what you’d call the full picture.’

‘No, of course not. She told Dr Natouche she meant to sleep on deck. She complained of insomnia. And I think she must have done so because he and I found a bit of cloth from the cover of her diary – you know I told you how it went overboard – on her Li-lo mattress.’

‘Not necessarily left there during the night, though, would you say?’

‘Perhaps not. It was discoloured. I think Dr Natouche has kept it.’

‘Has he? Now why would the doctor do that, I wonder.’

‘Because I asked him to.’

‘You did!’

‘We were both a bit worried about her. Well, you know I was, don’t you? I told you.’

Mr Tillottson at once looked guarded. ‘That’s so, Mrs Alleyn,’ he said. ‘You did mention it. Yerse.’

‘There’s one thing I want you to tell me. I daresay I’ve got no business to pester you but I hope you won’t mind too much.’

‘Well, of course not. Naturally not, I’m sure.’

‘It’s just this. If it is found to be homicide you won’t will you, entertain any idea of her having been set upon by thugs when she went ashore in the night? That can’t be the case, possibly, can it?’

‘We always like to keep an open mind.’

‘Yes, but you can’t, can you, keep an open mind about that one? Because if she was killed by some unknown thug, who on earth sent the telegram from Carlisle?’

‘We’ll have to get you in the Force, Mrs Alleyn. I can see that,’ he joked uneasily.

‘I know I’m being a bore.’

‘Not at all.’

‘But you see,’ Troy couldn’t resist adding, ‘it’s because of all those silly little things I told you about at the police stations. They don’t sound quite so foolish, now. Or do they?’

‘Er – no. No. You may be quite sure, Mrs Alleyn, that we won’t neglect any detail, however small.’

‘Of course. I know.’

‘I might just mention, Mrs Alleyn, that since we had our last chat we’ve re-checked on the whereabouts of the passengers over last weekend. They’re OK. The Hewson couple were in Stratford-upon-Avon. Mr Pollock did stay in Birmingham. Dr Natouche was in Liverpool, and –’

‘But – that’s all before the cruise began!’

‘Yerse,’ he said and seemed to be in two minds what to say next. ‘Still,’ he said, ‘as far as it goes, there it is,’ and left it at that.

‘Please, Mr Tillottson, there’s only one more thing. Had she – did you find anything round her neck. A cord or tape with a sort of little bundle on it. Sewn up, I fancy, in chamois leather?’

‘No,’ he said sharply. ‘Nothing like that. Did she wear something of that nature?’

‘Yes,’ Troy said. ‘She did. It was – I know this sounds fantastic but it’s what she told me – it was an extremely valuable Fabergé jewel representing the Signs of the Zodiac and given to her grandfather who was a surgeon, by, believe it or not, the Czar of Russia. She told me she never took it off. Except one supposes when she –’ Troy stopped short.

‘Did she talk about it to anyone else, Mrs Alleyn?’

‘I understood she’d told Miss Hewson about it.’

‘There you are! The foolishness of some ladies.’

‘I know.’

‘Well, now,’ he said. This is interesting. This is quite interesting, Mrs Alleyn.’

‘You’re thinking of motive.’

‘We have to think of everything,’ he sighed portentously. ‘Everything.’

‘I suppose,’ Troy said, ‘you’ve looked in her suitcase.’

She thought how preposterous it was that she should be asking the question and said to herself: ‘If it wasn’t for Rory, he’d have slapped me back long ago.’

He said: ‘That would be routine procedure, wouldn’t it, Mrs Alleyn?’

‘You were alongside this cabin when you – when you – were in that boat. The porthole was open. I heard about the suitcase.’

He glanced with something like irritation at the porthole.

‘There’s nothing of the nature of the object you describe in the suitcase,’ he said and stood up with an air of finality. ‘I expect you’ll appreciate, Mrs Alleyn, that we’ll ask for signed statements from all the personnel in this craft.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘I’ve suggested they assemble in the saloon upstairs for a preliminary interview. You’re feeling quite yourself again –?’